![]() ![]() I realize how silly all of this is, but it’s also serious because of what it says about the man, about who and what he actually is. He constantly says he can beat anybody among the rich, but I’ve played in the Tahoe Celebrity tournament with him several times and he’s never finished in the top half. His team has never made the cut - not once. But it’s always been complete bullshit, and everyone knows it.įor example, he’s played in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a really popular golf tournament that’s full of rich guys, for seven straight years. He’s always told people that no one can beat him, that he’s the best of the rich guys. We’ve known this guy in the sports world for 30 years. What’s interesting to me is what Trump’s cheating says about the unreality he lives in. Even when I said, “Just let me use the story and I won’t put your name on it,” they still said no. Some of them like his policies, some don’t want to be. I talked to a ton of people while reporting this book - Republicans, Democrats, random people in Trump’s orbit. Eric Trump, who’s in charge of the golf, wouldn’t talk to me. I don’t know what else I could have done to try to get an interview. I called the people I know in the White House Press Office. Were you able to talk to Trump at any point while you were working on this and ask him about this stuff? Rick Reilly Then, according to, he tells Virtue something like, “I’ll tell you what, we’ll be co-champions.”īut the members tell me that when you look at the plaques on Trump’s locker there, it says: “2018 Men’s Club Champion.” No “co-” at all. The son is like, “That’s my ball!” But Trump’s caddie goes, “No, this is the president’s ball your ball went in the water.” Ted and his son look at each other confused, not sure if this is really happening. Only now it’s his ball and the caddie has switched it. By the time they get to the hole, though, Trump is lining up the son’s ball. Both Ted and his son hit the ball on the green, but Trump hits his in the water. They end up playing.Īpparently, they get to a hole with a big pond in front of the green. Your son can play, too.” So what are you going to do? He’s the president. Trump says, “We’re gonna play these last six holes for the championship.” And Ted’s like, “Oh, well, I’m playing with my son, but thanks anyway.” But Trump says, “It’s okay. Ted tries to laugh it off, but Trump is dead serious. He tells Ted: “Congrats on winning the club championship, but you didn’t really win it, because I was out of town.” Trump sees Ted on the 9th hole and and decides to drive his cart over. They say Virtue was there playing with his son. I could never get Virtue to call me back on all this, but reported it and I heard it from two members of the club as well. And he sees Ted Virtue, who was involved in the financing of the movie Green Book. So later on, Trump’s back on the course there with the Secret Service and the SWAT team guys and all that stuff. While Trump was meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, a club championship was held at Trump International, the course Trump built near Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Well, this story isn’t in the book but it’s wild. Give me the most outrageous cheating story. I actually played with him once, and he told me how he does it: Whenever he opens a new golf course, because he owns 14 and operates another five, he plays the first club champion by himself and declares that the club championship and puts his name on the wall.īut it’s usually just him and Melania in the cart and nobody else. Trump’s going around telling people he has won 20. The best player I know of at this level won eight of these club championships - that’s the most I’ve ever heard of. It lasts two or three days, and it’s a big thing if you win it. Once a year, every country club has a club championship for the best players. What is a club championship? And how many of those has he actually won? Rick Reilly Trump claims to have won at least 20 club championships at his golf courses. “In a weird way,” Reilly told me, they “say as much about Trump as almost anything else we know about him, because it cuts to the core of his character.”Ī lightly edited transcript of my conversation with Reilly follows. Trump’s cheating at golf might seem trivial compared to his political shenanigans, but there’s another way to think about it: Golf is a game built on self-governance, Reilly says, and in that way, it’s like a “Rorschach test for your morality.” And some of the stories about Trump are truly absurd. swings like a little girl with no power or talent. Golf match? I've won 18 Club Championships including this weekend. ![]()
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